


Duly Noted

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [137]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s03e17 A Hundred Days, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 14:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18852511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: Jack raps his knuckles against the door to Sam’s lab and waits. He waits a little longer before he tries again, but when there’s still no answer after a minute, he isn’t quite sure what to do, because of all the scenarios he’s played out in his mind on the walk from his quarters to her lab, the major not actually beinginher lab has never once occurred to him.





	Duly Noted

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Notebook Day’ (16 May). Set during season 3, after the events of ‘A Hundred Days', but before ‘Shades of Grey’.

Jack raps his knuckles against the door to Sam’s lab and waits. He waits a little longer before he tries again, but when there’s still no answer after a minute, he isn’t quite sure what to do, because of all the scenarios he’s played out in his mind on the walk from his quarters to her lab, the major not actually being _in_ her lab has never once occurred to him.

He doesn’t want to open the door and walk in, even though he usually would do just that, but having been away for three months has left him feeling a little out of the loop where his team – and especially Carter – are concerned and he isn’t sure he has the right to make himself at home in her space when she’s not there.

_Home._

He snorts to himself in half-amusement, half-derision at the thought. He’s glad to be home – _he really is_ – but he’s having a hard time settling back in. Especially when everyone seems to be acting differently around him; particularly whenever Carter’s name comes up in conversation.

His team are yet to go back onto the mission list, and they haven’t spent much time together since his return.

Sure; Teal’c has been his ever-reliable self and let Jack readjust to life on Earth at his own pace, and the past few mornings they’ve been meeting in the gym for an early sparring session. It’s helped them grow closer in a way they weren’t before. While Daniel, instead of taking the liberty to inform him of every single ancient culture the SGC has come across in the time he was missing, has been telling him – repeatedly – about the feat of science Sam seemingly performed in order to bring him home from Edora. But it doesn’t really mean much to him – it is physics after all – until Daniel slams down one of his history books and steadily meets his gaze.

_I think you should go and see Sam_ , he said firmly, _and don’t be an ass._

He wants to be offended at Daniel’s suggestion, because he hasn’t seen Carter for more than ten minutes since he’s been back – but it’s that realization that stopped him in his tracks as he tried to figure out why their paths haven’t crossed. He hasn’t necessarily been avoiding her, which means that she’s been avoiding him and a heavy, uncomfortable weight had been sitting on his chest ever since he’s come to that conclusion. He isn’t sure how to take the discovery, or the feelings it’s stirring, and he doesn’t want to ask, but it’s why he’s now standing outside her lab because he needs to know.

He takes a quick look around the corridor and knocks on the door once again. When there’s no response, he tries the handle and finds the lab is unlocked, so he pushes the door open, but before he can step inside he freezes.

Samantha Carter is one of the most meticulous people he knows, but her lab is an absolute mess.

There are whiteboards covered in scribbles and drawings, and pieces of paper haphazardly stuck to the walls. Her lab bench is hidden under layers and layers of pages, pens and pencils thrown across the surface, a half dozen long-forgotten about coffee cups scattered around her computer.

“What the hell?”

He steps inside the lab, his eyes darting around as he tries to take everything in, but it’s too much and even though Daniel has tried to tell him that Sam had broken the laws of physics for him, he’s only starting to understand that she _broke the laws of physics._

_For him._

His gaze lands on a notebook on the bench and he picks it up. He flicks through a few pages but nothing makes sense – there’s numbers and letters and equations. Words have been crossed out, red lines and circles drawn around others. But it’s chaos. Complete chaos.

To the point that if he didn’t know Carter’s work so well, he’d argue that this crazed confusion isn’t her creation.

He flicks through a few more pages when one catches his eye. It’s different from the rest. It’s neat and careful; each word thoughtfully written.

_I have to bring him home._

It’s the only sentence on the page, but it’s enough.

He swallows hard at the message and when a shadow falls over the desk his gaze snaps up to find Sam standing in the doorway, her eyes guarded, watching him.

He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out and when he sees her attention flick down to the notebook in his hand, and her eyes widen, he lets it fall closed but doesn’t set it back on the bench.

He taps his thumb against the cover once, twice, three times before he looks back at Sam, her gaze clashing with his. His voice, when he finds it, is rough. Unsteady.

“You brought me home, Carter.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had written a round-up of Wales Comic Con, which Amanda and RDA had attended. For anybody that’s still interested, that review has now been published and can be found on GateWorld [here](https://www.gateworld.net/news/2019/05/stargate-shipping-selfie-wales-comic-con-report/).


End file.
